


The future is rarely this clear

by TailorNorata



Series: Tumblr Short Stories [11]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Clairvoyance, Deception, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Oblivious Peter, Peter is dating, the OCs play minor roles for the most part, though it is implied Peter has sex with one of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 19:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14575884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TailorNorata/pseuds/TailorNorata
Summary: Peter starts dating again and soon a pattern emerges or three times Stiles interrupted Peter's date and the one time he was the date.





	The future is rarely this clear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GracieBirdie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GracieBirdie/gifts).



When Peter had decided to get back into dating he had planned for many things.

One thing he had not planned for was his own commitment to keeping that little troublemaker Stiles alive. And the things he’d give up for that commitment.

Peter would call them friends, though he wasn’t sure Stiles would agree.

Their main activity together was taking care of threats before they came to Scott’s attention and then usually cooking together afterwards, eating while watching a movie or playing on Peter’s several gaming consoles.

It had taken him a while to catch up with pop culture but he finally felt on top of his game again. An achievement the young man had definitely played a role in.

As a friend Peter had talked with Stiles about the matter of dating, asking him for advice on how to go about it. Stiles had been surprisingly well informed for someone who - as far as Peter was aware- had only ever dated one person. Peter’s daughter. A part of their past the three of them usually willfully ignored or glossed over. Though Peter probably was the one who had the least issues with it. He obviously had never spoken with either of them much about what had happened but considering the two still were fairly close to each other he supposed it maybe just worked better for both of the young adults to keep it platonic. Sometimes things turned out that way. He was just glad they had stayed close because it was obvious Stiles helped Malia to connect to her human nature and Malia helped Stiles with his occasional anxiety and his tendency to overthinking.

Stiles had introduced Peter to Tinder, Grindr and Only Lads, he had also mentioned Peter might want to use messengers like Telegram or Kik, since those were more anonymous than Whatsapp. When Stiles had mentioned Peter might also like a website called FetLife Peter had nodded. At least that was something he had already found himself.

Dating definitely had changed in the last years, but Peter found his way easily enough, everything was very user friendly and the rest of the equation was people. He had no problem figuring out people. Well most people, there were exceptions to every rule.

It didn’t take long and Peter had a hand full of candidates who met his current requirements of being attractive, smart, snarky enough to hold their ground with him and morally at least somewhat flexible. To find those few meant he had to filter through a lot of people below that threshold, but Peter had never had a problem with telling people to fuck off in the politest way possible.

~*~

Four weeks into the endeavour Peter had his first date.

Dr. Ferawro, as his name was on Grindr was beautiful and charming. His actual name was Josep Ferrero, he actually was a surgeon and they had a lot in common, such as their love for expensive cars, their annoyance with people who asked unnecessary questions and their guilty pleasure to watch ‘Say Yes to the Dress’.

They were on a good way to fuck each other in either one of their cars or one of their beds when Peter’s phone rang with Stiles’ ringtone.

He apologized and stood up to take the call outside.

As it turned out Stiles was trapped on a tree because he had angered a Camahueto. How the fuck he had encountered such a creature Peter really had no idea but the cracking noises and Stiles’ very serious pleading to come fast and safe him was enough for Peter to know he had to go and rescue the idiot.

So he apologized to Josep because an emergency had come up, payed for their food and left.

~*~

Josep later texted him, asking if everything turned out ok and Peter looked down at Stiles who had dozed off with his head in Peter’s lap as they had watched some netflix to calm him down from the adrenaline rush of almost dying.

_Peter: Yeah, my apologies again, if you want I can make it up to you…_

Peter didn’t expect to get a message back as quickly as he did.

_Josep: Would you meet me tonight and fuck my brains out in your Maybach?_

Peter looked down at Stiles again, would he freak out if Peter wasn’t there when he woke up?

Should Peter just wake him up and tell him he was going out to pick his date up roughly where he had left it?

Something inside him - in that moment he’d have called it instinct, though later he was pretty sure it just had been his subconscious already understanding what was going on - told him it’d be bad to leave Stiles now.

_Peter: I am afraid I can’t._

The next message took a little longer and when Peter read it he understood why.

_Josep: That’s a shame, but it is what it is. Since I am not in the business of running after anybody, no matter how rudely attractive they might be I suppose this is where we part ways. I had a nice evening despite you rushing off and should fate ever bring us together by chance again I’d still be open to some casual action. Best of luck._

Whelp, there went his first chance to find someone permanent. He would not say no to a little fun with Josep either but it wasn’t like he was short in supply of booty calls, what he wanted was a partner.

_Peter: I understand and appreciate the honesty. Best of luck to you too._

~*~

They caught the Camahueto and didn’t even have to kill it, it had just been lost and Stiles had startled it. After leading it back to it’s original track everything was all right.

At least until Peter’s next date.

This time Peter wasn’t as torn as with the first because the guy, his name was Domian, had a voice Peter could hardly listen to. Maybe his personality was great, Peter could barely tell because that voice irritated him to no end. It wasn’t high pitched or anything but flat and even and lacking almost all intonation.

He might still have fucked the guy, he looked cute enough and Peter had a perverse curiosity what that voice sounded like when the guy was in lust, but it didn’t come to that because there was another call from dear Stiles.

Peter didn’t apologize himself but just mumbled “I gotta take this” and picked up.

“Peter, I have a…uh…a little problem…”

Peter sighed “I feel flattered you call me whenever you are in trouble darling, but this is somewhat a bad time.”

Stiles sighed “I know, I know,  you mentioned meeting with someone, I’m really sorry but…Wiggle has escaped and I may or may not have been experimenting some of my new potions on him…”

Peter’s eyes narrowed.

“Which ones?”

He heard Stiles swallow.

“Visibility…and size…”

He couldn’t keep in a groan.

“You know, for someone so smart you can be incredibly stupid sometimes…”

He practically heard Stiles roll his eyes.

“Will you come help me?”

Peter gave his date a last glance.

“Yeah ok…but you owe me.”

He hung up before Stiles could answer.

His attention was on the man in front of him.

“So, this is unpleasant. But my friend’s snake has escaped and it’s not the small kind so he needs help. I’ll pay the meal as an apology but I have to go.”

Domian frowned.

“No one else can help him?”

Peter just shrugged noncommittally, aware that response would likely kill any chances he had had with the guy.

It wasn’t a huge loss.

~*~

Peter found Wiggliam Snakespeare by scent easily enough and the snake was used to him so it didn’t try to attack him - not that it would have done much damage.

An hour later the little big boy had been shrunken to its natural size and made visible again.

Stiles thanked Peter and jokingly offered to blow him since he had basically blue balled him.

Peter declined. If he got sexual attention he wanted it to be desired on both ends and not out of a sense of obligation.

After declining though he left fairly quickly because looking at Stiles lips too long, having his scent dominate the air around him wasn’t helping him make peace with that decision.

They had flirted before but he had always known it was just fun. And nothing to ruin one of his best friendships over.

If he thought of Stiles smiling at him, kissing him and having his mouth all over Peter’s body while he pulled himself off in the privacy if his home then nobody needed to know that.

~*~

Date three went so well, so god damn well!

Maggie was lovely, smart and witty, she had an answer to everything, strong opinions, the right ones too. Besides that she smelled comforting but not boring, her whole personality spoke of someone grounded yet energetic, spontaneous but reasonable. She told him openly about her profession of telling fortune and making low level protective penchants. When she mentioned it the faint smell of ozone clicked into place for Peter.

He could see she was delighted he believed her from the beginning and when she asked him if it was okay if she read a little bit in the potentials his future held he hesitated only a short moment.

Knowledge was power, there was nothing to say against having a bit more of it still.

So she took his hand.

Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh…I see, you aren’t human…mh…and I probably should have mentioned I can see the past as well…”

He was surprised she didn’t sound horrified or disgusted then, just apologetic.

“If I had had an inkling about the suffering you had had to endure I would have mentioned it Peter…I am sorry…poor man…”

He frowned “Hardly…I got what I deserved…”

She smiled like you would with a child.

“Parts of it, yes…others not so much…but I am glad you are doing so much better. I can see a person that played a big role in that…several people but one in particular…you should keep that person close…oh…you really should…if you do your future will be magnificent…you will have a beautiful bloom with that person at your side…that does mean though…”

Her smile turned melancholic.

“It means you and I won’t come together. There is a future I see where we could, and it would be pleasant, sweet even, but mediocre at best compared to how bright you could burn with that other person.”

Peter was somewhat confused.

“Who?”

Maggie smiled, still a little sad “The one calling you in about half an hour.”

Peter furrowed his brows in contemplation.

“And you are saying I should pursue that person? Half the people that might call me I’m related to…”

Her smile became teasingly.

“I doubt that will be the case, but no, I don’t mean romantically, not necessarily at least…what is yet to come is seldom clear enough to determine things like that. The only indicator I can give you is this one: The future I saw will probably not happen if you start a relationship with someone else.”

She patted his hand and then let go.

“Now, the fact we won’t become an item doesn’t mean we can’t have a nice dinner and a great night together. So what do you say we continue this?”

Peter nodded after a moment and ordered some more wine.

~*~

Half an hour later they were almost done with their main course and Peter’s phone rang with Stiles’ ringtone again.

“I-”

Maggie nodded “Take it”

He did and Stiles voice was low and hushed.

“I have a problem…I accidentally stumbled into a vampire nest…”

Peter sighed.

“Which kind of vampire?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do they have the classical elongated canines or are their entire teeth more like just a little pointier than normal.”

Stiles sounded a bit tense “I don’t know man…they are sleeping, I’m not gonna check their teeth.”

Peter pinched the bridge of his nose “Okay okay…so their faces look fairly human or different?”

“Different.”

“How?”

“Their ears are longer, the nose flatter…everything is a bit elongated I think…their limbs don’t look entirely human either…”

Good.

“Those are Emote Siphoners, a lesser known vampire form, fairly harmless, they feed off strong emotions, nothing physical like blood. If they wake up they might swarm you and take your stronger emotions away but they won’t stop you. They have enough food in a town like Beacon Hills. They might actually play with you if you engage them.”

Stiles huffed.

“Sounds like you’ve done that before.”

Peter grinned “They aren’t smart and reproduce fairly naturally, they are basically animals, I had one as a pet for a while, it was cute and helped with the stress in college.”

There was a low frustrated grown on the other end of the line but when Stiles spoke again it was with a certain fondness “You’re so weird Peter…”

He chuckled “I know. But if you don’t mind I’d like to get back to my date now.”

He could hear Stiles swallow.

“Right, your date. I totally forgot.”

Stiles had gotten pretty good at lying, to the point where even Peter wasn’t always sure but that certainly sounded fake.

“Well, now I reminded you and I’ll hang up now, okay?”

A small pause.

“Yeah…yeah okay…thank you for helping me even though you are busy. Have fun Peter.”

He felt a weird sense of guilt but pushed it aside for a bright smile.

“Thank you, have fun with the Emotes.”

A dry, slightly forced laughed “Thanks, goodbye Peter.”

“Goodbye Stiles.”

He hung up before the conversation could venture into actual awkwardness and looked at Maggie who had purposefully ignored the conversation and concentrated on her food.

“Ok, I promise after this we can just chat about fun things and have amazing, filthy sex, but I have to ask. You said the future is rarely clear enough when I voiced uncertainty about a possible romantic relationship with the person I just had on the phone. Now, after I tell you I would not mind that, would you change the vague but suggestive answer you gave me?”

Maggie’s lips curled into a mischievous grin and her dark, brown eyes were positively gleaming.

“That young man interrupted every single of your dates so far. You know how it is, one is an incident, two is coincidence, three is a pattern. Which would make four enough to take action I’d say.”

Peter couldn’t help but shake his head and grin.

“That actually sounds like something Stiles would say. So you are suggesting I should set up a fourth date to see if he keeps the pattern going?”

She shrugged “There is a slight chance he might not, because of your conversation right now he learned that you don’t necessarily come every time he calls…”

“So you didn’t just offer me the chance to go that glorious path you saw for me but at the same time gave me the chance to screw it up by convincing me to spend tonight with you anyway…”

A provocative smile and a shrug were the answer.

He huffed and grinned wider.

“You are quite the snake, aren’t you?”

Maggie grinned back.

“In a biblical sense, sure, I love to tempt. But admit it, you wouldn’t have considered staying if it wasn’t for the fact I can actually rival you.”

“True. So what am I supposed to do?”

She leaned back and suggestively played with a strand of her dark red hair.

“Eat with me, sleep with me, move on and lay an irresistible trap for your future Beau.”

He leaned back as well and played with the stem of his glas.

“If you put it like that. How do you feel about dessert?”

~*~

After that night Peter observed Stiles’ behavior around him and others more closely than before.

He hadn’t paid that much mind to it so far but now realized Stiles was more physical when they were alone than he was with anybody else - even Scott.

It wasn’t like Stiles got crazy physical with him, but they just spent a lot of their time alone together in close contact, either sitting next to each other, elbows touching, when they watched movies Stiles usually sprawled out on the couch, at least one body part placed in Peter’s lap, when they cooked with each other Stiles moved around him and placed small touches here and there.

Peter had just written it off as Stiles imitating scenting behavior to connect himself to the more instinctive aspects of the pack bond, and maybe that was part of it, but it was clearly more than that.

And the idiot Peter was he had not looked at it more closely because he had locked away any idea of him and Stiles possibly being more than friends.

He had to admit the fact it had taken a clairvoyant to point him in the right direction had bruised his ego at least a little bit.

But now he was reciprocating more consciously, as part of his plan.

He would intensify their connection, reciprocate the physical contact, invite Stiles more often just to spend time together, amp up the flirtatious comments, and then make plans for a fourth date, but mention he wasn’t all that sure he was interested in the person. It’d make it easy for Stiles to decide to interrupt his date again, whether it was conscious or subconscious.

~*~

And so it came.

Peter’s fourth date actually wasn’t a real person though - he had no interest in pretending he liked somebody just to use them when he could just as easily pretend he was meeting with somebody.

After all, it wasn’t even really a lie, he did intend to meet with somebody that evening, Stiles just didn’t know the person Peter wanted to meet was him.

And Peter actually started answering Stiles’ questions with that in mind.

 

“What’s the guy like?” Stiles asked, lounging on Peter’s couch, tome in hand.

Peter hummed in thought and leaned against the back of the couch with his hip while deciding which tie to wear.

“He is a lot younger than me…something I wouldn’t usually consider, but he hits all other criterias. The biggest question is if he’s actually into me…”

Stiles raised one brow - had he adapted that from Peter? Possibly…

“Why? If he is down for a date I’m sure he’s got the hots for your Daddy Bad-Touch vibe.”

Peter glared at the younger man.

“What did I ever do to suggest I deserve that title?”

Stiles grinned up at him and had the audacity to nudge Peter’s hip with his toes.

“Nothing really, not since the wrist grab…it’s more this.” he motioned his hand to refer to Peter’s general person “Probably mostly the goatee though I think.”

“I can get rid of it.”

“No, don’t, I like it.”

“You also like wearing khakis and onion-like layers of clothing, clearly you can’t be trusted in such matters.”

Stiles pretended to be hurt and frowned.

“You’re a mean one Mr. Hale.”

Peter hummed pleased “I’m not sure I should be as into you calling me that as I am…”

Stiles shrugged “You can always ask the twink you are meeting if he wants to do some teacher/student role play.”

Already at the door to his apartment Peter chuckled at the comment “You kinky little brat, I never even said anything about role-playing.”

~*~

Instead of going on the actual date Peter went to Stiles favourite Indian Restaurant and got them their usual. He then went to the convenience store and bought Stiles favorite ice cream and soda.

As he had guessed Stiles called him when he was on the drive back to his apartment.

He picked up with a grin: “Stiles. Why do you always call me when I’m on a date?”

He could basically hear Stiles’ flail his limbs in an attempt to justify himself.

“I don’t always- I mean it’s not- I…I I’m…I need your help.”

Peter sighed a bit exaggerated “You were at my place less than an hour ago, in how much trouble could you possible have gotten yourself?”

Peter had made a slight gamble by assuming Stiles would stay at his apartment if he invited him there this evening for some “research” but it hadn’t been a bad one - Stiles was an eager learner and Peter had a lot of books on magic to offer. He had even bought a new one so Stiles had a book he didn’t have had the chance to read before.

On the other end of the connection Peter could hear Stiles shuffle.

“I…I might have tried out a spell and it backfired? Your flat is ok but I’m in a precarious situation, seriously…I need your help.”

Peter waited for a few moments to make it seem like he was weighing his options and then sighed.

“Ok, I’ll be there in twenty.”

He hung up without saying goodbye to seem frustrated and continued to drive home, the smell of the Indian food already filling the car.

~*~

When he came up to his own flat’s door there was another smell, also food but less spicy, potatoes, champions, leak, bacon, cheese…and maybe rice?

He unlocked his door and the smell got stronger. Definitely rice.

A few steps into his flat and he saw Stiles, wearing an apron and carrying a steaming pot to the sweetly decorated table.

“What….is going on?”

Stiles smiled at him and then raised a brow when he saw the bags with food containers, soda and ice cream.

“I could ask the same, you took your sweet time to come and ‘rescue’ me if you bought food on your way back from your date…”

Peter placed the bags on the counter.

“There never was a date…but…what…why…”

He gestured to the candles and flowers, the bottle if wine, the two plates and fancy glasses, the still steaming pot that smelled awfully delicious.

Stiles blushed “Eh….Maggie and I…”

Peter felt he knew where that might be going.

“Did she put the idea I was into you in your head? Because Stiles…I would never want this unless you-”

Stiles snorted and crossed his arms.

“No Peter, shut up. I met Maggie a while ago and she taught me some basic fortune telling. During that time we realized we both had a possible future with you. She made it very clear my future with you was the more powerful one and insisted on me taking the chance…pointing you in the right direction was her idea…but I might have given her some tips on how to sell it.”

Well this was a twists he hadn’t anticipated.

“So you played me.”

It wasn’t a question but Stiles nodded.

“I did.”

“The entire time you knew I was into you.”

“No. A big part of this was trying to find out if you were. If your date with Maggie had turned out differently I would have pulled away from you. After all she told you the truth, there are other possible futures for you. And neither I nor she can see all of them, time is a fickle matter.”

He had some conflicting feelings about this situation.

“You lied to me.”

Stiles nodded again.

“On many matters. Before and after I realized my feelings.”

Peter could hardly judge, he was a passionate deceiver, but dishonesty was no base for a relationship.

“If we do this there can’t be lies or secrets between us.”

He saw Stiles give him a dangerous smile.

“Careful Peter, you are the one with all the secrets…are you really willing to share all of them with me?”

He hesitated only a moment before nodding.

“If it goes both ways and we use a secrecy spell I have no problem with that.”

Stiles’ body relaxed a little but not fully and a wary, careful but genuine smile tugged on the corners of Stiles’ mouth.

“So you aren’t angry I tricked you?”

Peter huffed at the sign of insecurity and reached out to cup the younger man’s face, smiling warmly.

“On the contrary, I am pretty turned on by it.”

The last tension left Stiles’ body and he slumped a little against Peter, leaning their foreheads together.

“Figures…”

Then, with an almost innocent glance into Peter’s eyes he asked “What do we do now?”

“Now…” Peter almost purred and reached out next to them and grabbed a pint of ice cream out of the bags, holding it to Stiles’ neck “…we put away the groceries and eat whatever is smelling so lovely in that pot over there.”

Stiles had screeched and cursed before huffing but followed Peter’s orders.

 

“At least we have food for tomorrow as well.” he mentioned cheery as he placed the food containers of indian deliciousness in Peter’s fridge.

Peter had snuck up behind him and wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist, playing with the bow of the apron he had tied in the front, head resting on Stiles’ shoulder.

“Just tomorrow? I think we could stay in for at least three days…maybe four…”

Stiles leaned into Peter’s embrace after a short moment of surprise and hummed lowly and content.

“Sounds like you got big plans…”

Peter chuckled and nibbled gently on the tendon in Stiles’ neck.

“Would it be too creepy if I said I wouldn’t mind if your scent became as familiar to me as air is to other people?”

The rumbling noise between a humm and chuckle Stiles made was nice and soothing to Peter’s instincts.

“No, with you it’s sweet. Come on now, let’s eat before you break the skin on my neck out of hunger.”

Peter had almost forgotten the food but followed the order.

“All right Darling, what did you make?”

“Risotto, since you mentioned you didn’t have any in quite a while.”

Peter sat down and grinned.

“What an attentive young man. Boyfriend material if I ever saw some.”

Stiles grinned as well and shook his head.

“Sappy idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it :D  
> This story is not beta read.  
> Comments make me happy :)


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